A pastor stepped down after photos surfaced on the gay dating app, Grindr.
Rev. Matthew Makela resigned his post at St. John’s Lutheran church in Midland, Michigan, after the photos went viral earlier this week.
“I’m sure it was a shock to hear his name on the news or to be confronted with posts and links that break the confidentiality of this matter wide open,” St. John’s pastor Dan Kempin said after the resignation. “Most difficult is to see the way he has been savaged in all of this.”
The married father of five confirmed to the Detroit Free Press the authenticity of the story.
The pastor has allegedly been a strong proponent of traditional marriage and anti-gay marriage.
“Changing the culture begins with changing our own culture of marriage and family, taking the marriage union with the utmost seriousness and welcoming children in our church,” he wrote, according to the New York Daily News.
His congregation is trying to keep their “perspective” during this storm, Kempin said.
“It is easy to think that Jesus came to save polite sins and to forgive easy faults. But He came to save real sinners, and as such we rejoice to know that our sins, too, are covered. Washed away. Removed as far as the east is from the west. And these tears too will be wiped from our eyes in His time. In the meantime, please look to one another. We are hurting, but the God who is faithful will not forsake us.”
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